Feel Like You’re at the Mercy of Your Stress Habits? You are Not Alone

Feel Like You’re at the Mercy of Your Stress Habits? You are Not Alone

When you are stressed, it’s likely that you not only feel a notable sensation in your body, but you may also feel a certain way emotionally. It’s also likely that to soothe those physical sensations and/or emotional feelings of stress, you have a go-to, self-soothing habit or collection of habits, i.e., scrolling social, Netflix, working harder, eating, shopping, consuming alcohol/drugs, gambling, gaming, etc.

Self-soothing behavior habits, also called coping mechanisms, are usually noted by their “escape” quality. When our discomfort becomes too much, we can “move away” from it by immersing ourselves in something else.

From Managing Stress to Influencing It - Part 6 Eyes

From Managing Stress to Influencing It - Part 6 Eyes

Vision is the dominant sense we use to navigate and survive the world. The eyes are the only external part of the brain, so it makes sense to use them to help decrease stress. When stressed, your pupils dilate, changes take place in the eye's optics to bring the “threat” into sharp focus - think portrait mode on your phone.

From Managing Stress to Influencing It - Part 5 Ears

From Managing Stress to Influencing It - Part 5 Ears

You have probably heard of tunnel vision, but did you know you can also get tunnel hearing when stressed? Hormones released during stress can reduce or even stop blood circulation in the ear affecting your hearing.

From Managing Stress to Influencing It - Part 4 Mouth

From Managing Stress to Influencing It - Part 4 Mouth

You may experience a dry mouth or clenched jaw when stressed but generally it’s not the area of your body you think of to help you relieve stress. Here’s how you can use your mouth to influence your stress.

From Managing Stress to Influencing It - Part 3 Nose

From Managing Stress to Influencing It - Part 3 Nose

We have all heard about taking a deep breath when we are feeling stressed. It’s true that deepening your breath into fuller, belly breaths can help activate a calming response but being told to “take a deep breath” when you are stressed can be downright annoying.

Understanding that stress shifts your breathing helps us recognize that you can use breathing or the area of your nose to shift stress. Breathing bypasses the stressful thoughts swirling around in your head and impacts the body directly.

From Managing Stress to Influencing It - Part 2 Hands

From Managing Stress to Influencing It - Part 2 Hands

Touch.

Most of us take our sense of touch for granted. Our hands for example, an appendage we use on a daily basis to conduct our lives — to cook, clean, work, show affection, play, text, channel surf, eat and more — are often not give a second thought.

Sure, you could summon a feeling of gratitude for your hands or sense of touch in the moment that could result in shifting your stress response. But today, I am going to share less cognitive ways to use your hands and sense of touch to calm yourself when you are activated in a stress response.

From Managing Stress to Influencing It - Part 1

From Managing Stress to Influencing It - Part 1

Work pressure, trouble with family or friends, juggling responsibilities, and overwhelming emotions - any of these things can cause stress.

Stress is real and it can result in mental, emotional, and physical symptoms. What if instead of just managing life's stressors you could influence how your body responds? This blog series will explore why stress happens as well as body-based practices that can influence and calm the body's stress response.

3 Strategies to Counter Stress

3 Strategies to Counter Stress

Stress.

At work, it can be triggered by…

  • Long work hours

  • An unexpected, firm email from your boss

  • A call from a client pulling out due to budget cuts

  • Demanding or misaligned expectations

  • Deadlines

Many things can bring it on and some days it may seem like everything is playing a role. Is it just an inevitable part of work? Or life?